Assad regime uses “Game of Thrones” to lure tourists to AleppoOctober 3, 2016 - 19:08 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Bashar al-Assad's regime released a promotional video, with panoramic views of government-held parts of Aleppo, accompanied by an acoustic version of the theme music to the popular HBO television series "Game of Thrones", CNN news reports. Showcased in the video are aerial shots of wide green boulevards and swimming pools. It's a far cry from the rebel-held eastern part of the city, where 250,000 people live with daily airstrikes, according to the UN, and where whole blocks of neighborhoods have been destroyed. Although a constant stream of devastating pictures from Aleppo -- including a striking image of a bloodied boy -- have captured the world's attention as reminders of the horrors of war, the Assad regime wants to promote the city as a destination for tourists. Some may see evoking "Game of Thrones" as an odd choice for a Syria tourism campaign, considering the show's fictional world of Westeros is a violent place engaged in its own bloody civil war. But this is only the latest video in a broader tourism campaign by the Syrian government, which last month published idyllic shots of the Mediterranean resort city of Tartus. Another video shows a Christian festival in Maaloula. The mountain town, one of the few places in the world where Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ, is still spoken, was taken by al-Nusra Front, al Qaeda-linked rebel group, in 2013. Regime forces eventually pushed the Islamist group out in April 2014. Top stories Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Moscow on April 22 to hold talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". Partner news | Get Started: An educational platform for young startuppers The Get Started program which operates in two phases is an important platform for young startuppers. Byblos Bank Armenia celebrates Students' Day with scholarship recipients YSU students who received scholarships from Byblos Bank Armenia gathered in a casual setting to meet with the Bank's CEO, Hayk Stepanyan. Azerbaijan extends Rune Vardanyan’s arrest by 5 months A court in Azerbaijan has extended the arrest of former Nagorno-Karabakh leader Ruben Vardanyan by five months. Armenia border residents dissatisfied with delimitation Residents Kirants are dissatisfied with the results of the delimitation of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. |